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MUSIC: The Wanted Interview

Well, consider us well and truly converted! There is more to The Wanted than Siva's cheekbones after all. Yes, they are a bit rough around the edges, but they're also sharp, witty, un-media trained, un-co-ordinated and have had a crack at writing some of their own tunes, too. Pretty ace for a boyband. We caught up with Jay, Siva, Max and Tom to discuss their ever-escalating rivalry with One Direction, collaborating with Chris Brown, their BeeGees-inspired new single I Found You and why they would never write a song for The Saturdays…

GLAMOUR: Tell me about your new single, I Found You. What's it about?

Jay: "You. Not you, sorry. I mean, it could be you. It's to any woman… Or man. When you're in a really low, terrible place, and you just feel that you can't help yourself out of it, you find someone who saves you a little bit. That's what it's about, really. To a sort of funky dance, BeeGees tune."

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G: You've said you've taken your sound in a new direction with this track. Where were you aiming for?

Jay: "We've never really trod on the retro thing before, ever. We've done little bits of rock in our albums, and little bits of folk I guess, and a tiny bit of dubstep. Who hasn't? But we've never done the retro thing, so we thought we'd try it, get the old falsetto out and it sounds quite good."

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Tom: "No, we didn't kidnap her! Some creepy guy that's looking over our shoulder did! The song is quite effeminate in places i.e - the chorus. And then, obviously, we wanted to make the video a bit… Well, we made one video in LA and it didn't quite turn out the way we wanted it to, so…"

G: Really? What happened to the first one? What was the concept?

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Tom: "It was quite Beatles-esque, weren't it? It was a bit like the Outkast Hey Ya video…"

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Jay: "It was crystal meth! OK, it wasn't crystal meth. I mean, it could have been crystal meth. But it was diamonds. It's actually lobster pots."

G: You're working on a new album, too. What stage are you at with it?

Tom: "Erm… We're at about eight tracks. I mean, we've done so many tracks. Because we all love writing as well, whether it's for us or for any other people. So we've written about 30 tracks. We've got eight that we're really happy with, and the others will get shipped off to other places and stuff. We've got another writing session in January, and then we're looking to have the album out in March 2013. The label wanted us to put it out this side of the year…"

Jay: "It's probably why, monetarily. For Christmas sales. But the album was shocking in the way that it was…"

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Tom: "Chris Brown is the most likely one. We're going into the studio with him when we get back to LA next week to write. Justin… It could happen… I'm not ruling it out, but…"

Jay: "Neither side are really fighting for it…"

Siva: "We're not really pushing it. Chris came up to us and said, 'We've got to get in the studio.' And that's kind of the occasion when you can. But none of us have really moved to doing stuff with Justin. So, maybe in the future…"

G: You've got a heavily female fanbase. Do you think that collaborating with Chris Brown could cause problems for you, given the background and history he has?

Jay: "I think it's a touchy subject, but when it comes to the actual album, it's not one that I want to talk to him about at all. I mean, whether they [Rihanna and Chris Brown] are together or not, it's probably none of our business. I mean…"

Tom: "The thing is… Whatever went on between them both, he still made music and people still bought his music. I mean, Beautiful People was one of the biggest songs of the year last year. He's a great artist, do you know what I mean? I admire his music and him as an artist, not his personal life, so… I think for us, it's more about the music than anything else."

G: You're not worried about the impact the association could have on your music at all? There were whole record stores that refused to stock his products, his CDs were vandalised and a lot of publications refused to cover him completely…

Jay: "I think that some people are just never, ever going to accept that that happened. People make mistakes. And it's a very tough one to call because it was such a serious thing, and I just think you should judge someone on what you know of them from meeting them, not from what you read or something you hear. When we met him, he was more than friendly. We are little fish in a big pond out there [in the USA], and he went out of his way to say, 'Hi', and then say he wanted to work with us. That is the mark of someone who's not a thug. He's not a thug. I think, let's do the track and if it's not very good, we don't need to worry about it."

G: The One Direction rivalry seems to have really escalated in the last couple of weeks. Is there any genuine truth in it? Or is this all just headline-grabbing stuff?

Jay: "I mean, there's obviously mouth there. We used to try and have a bit of banter with them, and they kind of ignored it for a while. But I think now, with the fanbase growing, and it getting brought up what we said ages ago, I think they've let it rile them a little bit. Because they've been mouthing off quite a bit recently! At the end of the day though, it's just words. It doesn't really affect us. It's not like we're friends and all of a sudden it's a shock and it's like, 'You stabbed me in the back!' So, it's just words. To be fair, it's mainly Louis [Tomlinson] I think that seems to be mostly sniping…"

G: He was actually quoted in an interview this week as saying: "If you want to create a rivalry, then let's do it." What do you say in reaction to that?

Jay: "I like how he's quite passive-aggressive with everything. Like, before he says anything he says what we've done. But we're going to see them in New York, we're doing a gig with them in Madison Square Gardens, so I think let's go to their dressing room and say, 'Boys, so, what exactly have you heard? Here's the truth, and here's what we've heard…'"

Max: "I'd like to go up to Louis and go, 'OK, so, if I was to say, 'Yeah, let's start the rivalry, me and you, right now, what are we going to do?' What are YOU gonna do?'"

Jay: "I think all he really means is let's carry on doing bitchy comments in the papers. That's all he really means, ha ha."

Max: "I mean, if we're gonna go for it, let's proper go for it, at least. Let's not just say a couple of words to an interviewer. I feel tired by it, because, come on…"

G: Why do you think both bands have gone down so well in the States, where other boybands in the past - even Take That - haven't been picked up at all?

Jay: "It's a mix of different things. Firstly, we were very lucky with the song. They don't have a national radio like the BBC here, so you can't just get onto there and have it sorted. You have to go to every State, and every State has a different radio station. So, we slogged our guts out and the song just caught fire. I don't know, they like the British accent thing. With 1D, they had the storm from being on The X Factor, and they had the old school Bieber hype, and they became instant celebrities. So, overall, it's added to this whole British invasion thing that America is talking about all the time. Adele did it, Jessie J… Even Olly Murs is doing gigs out there. Even wonderful, wonderful Olly!"

Tom: "I mean, we're quite outspoken, but the Americans are like…"

Siva: "They've never got a bad word to say about anyone…"

Tom: "Yeah. They're a bit like, 'Oh, these boys are very real, they say it how it is.' English people have seen us from the start of things, and they have a perception of what a boyband should be. They had the Backstreet Boys and they had N-Sync. Very clean cut, do you know what I mean? For a rough boyband to go over there and stuff, I think, was quite refreshing."

G: Just don't swear too much over there. That doesn't go down too well…

Siva: "No it doesn't."

Jay: "Yeah, don't drop the C-bomb"

Max: "Yeah, c**nt doesn't go down very well at all."

Tom: "Nah, it doesn't…"

G: What do you think is the most unfair perception the public have of you as a boyband?

Jay: "I actually don't mind that people think we're… Not aggressive, but, what's the word? Like, sometimes we speak our minds to the point where people will say, 'Pipe down, that's a bit offensive.' I genuinely don't mind that. I just don't like people thinking we're stupid. Even if we have really harsh opinions on people who we think are dicks, we think it for a reason. We're not just saying it for the sake of it. We're not just going, 'Oh, aren't we crazy, can we have a cover?' I just don't want people thinking we're mindless idiots. But then, if they do think that, then they don't know us, so…"

Max: "A lot of people when we talk to them in the pub, like lads, they'll be like, 'We thought you were all dickheads until we saw you on Celebrity Juice.'"

Jay: "And then we're like, 'Have you seen it? We are all dickheads!' Ha ha ha…"

G: Speaking of TV shows, have you been keeping up with The X Factor this year?

Max: "A little bit."

Jay: "Me and Max watched a little bit."

Siva: "Nicole Scherzinger was f**ked…"

Max: "Oh my God, did you see how pissed she was the other night?"

Jay: "We came to the conclusion that she'd had a few before she went on, and it wasn't all the way through, but there was the odd sentence or two when, if you watch it…"

Max: "District 3…"

Jay: "District 3 had just performed, and she's sat in a slightly swaying way and then she says [puts on slurring American accent], 'Asserrr I don't even know what to say about that…' And I was like, 'Is she pissed?' And then we kept watching her all the way through with a raptor gaze, and we were convincing ourselves. And then it came to someone else, and she was like [slurring accent again], 'If we were just aaa… If we were here earlier…' And we were like, 'She is, she's drunk! Nicole Scherzinger's drunk!' So that made my night."

G: What do you think of her as a new judge on the panel?

Siva: "She's a total babe…"

Jay: "She's amazing. And she actually forms a coherent response after every single performance…"

Max: "Yeah, apart from when she's pissed…"

Jay: "So, I'm a fan…"

G: Who are you backing to win it this year?

Tom: "I really like James Arthur."

Siva: "Who's that?"

Jay: "The one who's a bit like Plan B…"

Siva: "Oh yeah, he's good."

Max: "I'm backing Union J. I think their vocals are really good, but they're the only ones I've met and got to know a little bit, and I think they're really nice. They're great."

G: One Direction recently announced their plans for a future comeback. Do you have any such contingency plans in the works?

Jay: "We haven't planned, like, a future comeback, but I think if we did part ways it would only ever be friendly, so I guess it could happen. But we haven't planned that far ahead. I guess maybe they're thinking of going into film or, erm…"

Max: "It might be like a Spice World thing…"

Jay: "Ha ha ha! I guess, like, they've done it all, you know what I mean? They've fully done the boyband thing. They are literally, like, do a few more years and then we'll break up. And then we'll get back together…"

Max: "That's the thing with us. We haven't earned that much money in three years so to us this like is just having a really decent job. So, like, this is something we have for life. It's not like, 'Well, we've made millions, we can go piss off and get some sand between our toes now.' We're in it for the long run and hopefully we'll be stable for a long time after we've done it for a long time. I mean, if we earn millions in one year on the way, don't get me wrong… Perfect. But it's more like a very good job to us rather than, like, a lottery win."

G: In your ideal lives, what would you like to happen to you in the next year?

Max: "Win the lottery. Ha! I wouldn't mind that."

Tom: "I'd like us to have a No.1 album in the States and over here. We got to No.7 in the States with our first album, and we've had No.4 and No.5 singles along the way, so a double No.1 would be cool."

Max: "Our own headline gig in Madison Square Gardens in New York would be cool."

Jay: "I'd like someone to get a No.1 song with a song we'd written for them."

Tom: "Yeah, that would be cool."

G: Who would be your ideal person to write for?

Siva: "I think you'd be good at writing a song for a diva, Max. You've got that in you."

Max: "Yeah? I write like a woman! Erm… Rihanna. Yeah. I'll have Rihanna."

Jay: "You'd definitely make some cash off of it, that's for sure!"

Max: "Without a doubt. Taylor Swift! Ha ha…"

G: Is there anyone you'd never collaborate with, ever?

Max: "Who would we say no to?'

Siva: "I wouldn't say no to anyone…"

Max: "Hoare!"

Jay: "The Saturdays. I'm not into death metal and their style of music is too hardcore for me."